With every business going online lately, the demand for high capacity and an efficient database has become the need of the hour. To cater to this need it is very crucial to ensure a high performance of the database.
To ensure a high performing database, it is very important to know the factors which affect the Database Performance in one way or the other.
Before we get into the details of the factors affecting database performance, let us first understand what a database performance is and why it is so important.
What is Database Performance?
Database Performance is the speed with which the database responds to the requests of accessing data. Though it might be sounding really simple, it has many layers unto it making it complicated, especially for DBA (Database Administrators), who spend most of their time ensuring a high performance of the database.
Why is Database Performance so important?
What makes Database Performance more important is the dependency of several operations on the data they access from the database. So, any kind of a slowdown from the database could subsequently slow down the entire operations. This would cause the end user to put off from the service.
Thus, Database Performance is substantial for a good user experience.
Factors that affect Database Performance
Here is the list of factors that affect the Database Performance, and which have to be well taken care of for a higher Database Performance.
Workload
One of the primary factors which affect the performance of a Database. Workload defines the data access requests sent to the Database by the system or end user. Clearly, a higher number of requests would mean an increased workload, which would require more processing from the Database end.
A workload is a cumulative of online transactions, batch jobs, ad hoc queries, analysis, business
intelligence queries, utilities and system commands which are directed via DBMS (Database
Management System) at any given point of time.
It is a dynamic entity and changes from time to time. While sometimes it could be predicted due to
some possible reasons such as peak business hours etc. but it often remains unpredicted making it a
challenging job for the DBA.
This way in an overall manner workload makes it as one of the primary reasons which largely affect
the Database Performance and thus is often monitored carefully by the diligent Database
administrators.
Throughput
Throughput plays an important part in the Database Performance being the measure of the input/output speed of the entire process. This input/output speed depicts whether the queries are responded in a fast or slow manner.
Throughput is not just dependent on the hardware factors such as the CPU speed and capacity but
also relies on the software of the system, such as the Operating System, Mainframes, software
programs, and their integration.
If the hardware and the software perform efficiently, then the throughput of the database is
observed to efficient resulting in better performance of the database.
Resources
These play an important role in database performance and affecting the throughput and other factors directly. Efficient hardware and software resources such as CPU, memory, cache controllers and microcode play an important role in a high performance of the Database.
Optimization
An optimized system means a better performing system. This makes optimization of the database a crucial factor in ensuring a higher performance of the database.
An efficient Database Administrator ensures that the SQL queries are well optimized, by following
diligent optimization and database tuning practices. Thereby, writing an optimally efficient code for
better performance.
Contention
Contention usually happens when the workload on a database increases and many queries try to access same resources causing system conflicts. This usually results in a slowdown affecting the database performance.
This happens when one of the operations tries to access or update data on which another operation
is already making some changes causing conflicts. To avoid such conflicts during contention, DBMS
ensures a locking mechanism, which locks the access for other users on the piece of data when a
user is already updating it.
A lower contention means a better performance of the Database, due to fewer conflicts and
subsequent slowdowns.
In a nutshell
Improving these factors would definitely result in a high performing database, which would ensure more seamless business operations. Thus, Database Performance is analysed to the behest of business operations.
Eric Vanier
Database PerformanceTechnical Blog Writer - I love Data
